Anyone thinking of going to Bucharest? Don't. it's really not that interesting. It's incredibly grey and really, you should be moving past it to get to the actual pretty parts of the country.
Having said that, upon arrival I did get a very nice religious book from a girl on a bus who wrote 'God Bless You' on the inside. Very nice.
Anyway, I'm going to skip all of Bucharest - which I am sure Libby won't mind, even though she was there for the whole 3 days.
So - bypass Bucharest and got to Transylvania. I went to Brasov where I caught up with some girls I had met at VT and explored the city (black church, main square, train station ticket office). Ended up going for dinner with some very funny Italian guys who certainly fulfilled more than one stereotype about Italian men. It took them forever to get ready, aked for a hairdryer, they were beautifully groomed and they gesticulated with their hands so much that they were almost a danger to public safety. Ended up at a Paris themed bar with bad eighties music where a Romanian boy managed to almost break my elbow with a door and insisted upon kissing it better despite my assertion that I was, in fact, fine. Very weird. Kind've sweet!?!?!?
Went and saw Bran Castle on a bus that I wasn't sure was going to make it. I think that there should be an acceptance that anything over 50 years old shouldn't be used as a people moving vehicle. This also applies to Soviet trains still running in Romania and Bulgaria which are less than comfortable. Castle was fine - more impressive outisde than in.
They have a strange obsession in that part of Europe with writing the name of the town on a hillside - Hollywood sign style! Maybe it's because they filmed 'Cold Mountain' there.
Last night I splurged an extra $10 and got a 4 berth on a sleeper train for my trip to Budapest. Free bottle of water. Better than a lot of hostel accomodation. Met a really nice girl who spoke Romanian, Hungarian, German, English and Spanish. She was on her way to a job interview (she was a law grad) and was really sweet and helpful. She also told me a lot about the history of Romania and what it had been like to live under communism. Really very interesting.
I'm now in Budapest.
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3 comments:
totally agreed on the "dont go to bucharest" part....and here i was thinking the stray mangy dogs would be the worst of my worries...."sigh"
Although a little disappointed that Transylvania did not provide much in the way of Dracula kitsch (I want vampire souvenirs, damn it!) - i'm am VERY disappointed that you went to the place they filmed Cold Mountain.
Jack White fangirlism aside, I can't think of a good reason to go there. Was it pretty? I think not! And Renee Zelwegger was only good in Empire Records, dude. Because music is the glue that sticks the world together.
Marc Sucks! Yeah!
I only drove past a hill where they shot it on the way to somewhere else. Idid notdo the "Cold Mountain Tour of Romania". Jeeze Louise - what do you take me for?
Where's te Money Lucas?
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